A spy next door

2010-03-26 15:37

One of these days, North-Caucasian District Military Court has found citizen of Georgia Zaza Kherkeladze and two Russian military men Khvichi Imerlishvili and Marlen Bogdanov guilty of espionage in favor of Georgia and sentenced them to 11, 13 and 15 years of imprisonment respectively. According to the investigation data, these people provided assistance to the Georgian special services in gathering information about the Russian military facilities and servicemen.

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The investigation on espionage in favor of Georgia in the Russian territory that has been completed one of these days is another disclosure of the Georgian scouts since the five-day war. Last year, FSS revealed the activity of the Georgian intelligence officer Mamuka Majsuradze who was involved in the intelligence service. On his government's order, Majsuradze arrived in Sochi in 2007 as a citizen of Ukraine and, according to the designed tale, established a private enterprise. In 2008, Majsuradze opened an Internet-café in Sochi using the money provided by the Georgian intelligence Service. The café was used as a channel for communicating with the foreign special service officers. It is notable that Majsuradze's task also included the

collection of data on the preparation to the winter Olympics that is to be held in Sochi in 2014.

Later on, according to Interfax, serviceman of one of the military units of the North-Caucasian military district Sergeant Major Jemal Nakaidze was sentenced to nine years of imprisonment in the maximum security penal colony for espionage in favor of Georgia.

The current case, in which course the accused were sentenced to 7-15 years of imprisonment, was opened at the end of 2008. At that time, FSS neutralized the agent net of the Georgian special services in the territory of Russia comprising 48 full-time employees and 101 agents of the foreign special services including 76 foreigners and 25 citizens of the Russian Federation and arrested one of its initiators, Deputy Head of the Georgian Foreign Intelligence Special Service Department Zaza Kherkeladze.

Ultimately, criminal cases concerning Russian citizens Bogdanov, Imerdishvili, Kushashvili, Khachidze and Khachirov were initiated according to the State Treachery article. The mentioned people collected information about the Russian military facilities and servicemen, law-enforcement authorities and Russian special service officers, as well as the officers of the bodies of state authority and state administration.